Louis XIV's Record Reign
1715 King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years, the longest of any major European monarch
- 1798 First US bank robbery: the Bank of Pennsylvania at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is robbed of $162,821
- 1859 Carrington Event: Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson make the first observation of a solar flare; the largest geomagnetic storm in recorded history
- 1859 The first Pullman sleeping car is introduced on an overnight journey between Bloomington, Illinois, and Chicago
- 1902 The first sci-fi film, "A Trip To The Moon" (Le Voyage dans la Lune), premieres in France
Fokker Goes for a Spin
1911 Anthony Fokker famously flies his aircraft "The Spider" around the tower of the Grote Kerk in Haarlem, Netherlands
- 1911 French aviator Alexandre Fourny sets a world aircraft duration record of 11 hours, 1 minute, and 29 seconds, covering 720 km in a Maurice Farman biplane
- 1913 France's Adolphe Pégoud performs the first inverted flight, using a Blériot model XI monoplane
- 1914 The last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio
Scoop of the Century
1939 In the "scoop of the century," Telegraph journalist Clare Hollingworth becomes the first to report the outbreak of World War II
- 1954 Paul "Bear" Bryant opens the infamous 10-day football mini-camp in Junction, Texas; the ordeal achieves legendary status, becoming the subject of the 2001 book "The Junction Boys" and a television movie of the same name
1972 American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer defeats Russian champion Boris Spassky 12.5-8.5 in Reykjavik, Iceland, in the most publicized world title match ever played; Fischer becomes the first American to win the title
- 1974 The SR-71 Blackbird sets the record for flying from New York to London in 1 hour, 54 minutes, and 56.4 seconds
- 1978 Jacqueline Smith of Great Britain becomes the first skydiver to hit dead-center on the electronic scoring pad in all ten rounds at the World Parachute Championships in Yugoslavia, earning her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records
- 1981 Fiona Brothers sets a women's propeller boat speed record of 116.279 mph (187.13 km/h)
- 1985 US-French expedition locates the wreckage of the Titanic off Newfoundland
Evert Wins 100th US Open Game
1989 Chris Evert becomes the first player to win 100 matches in the US National/Open Tennis Championship by defeating Patricia Tarabini 6-2, 6-4
Lemieux Takes Over Penguins
1999 Former Pittsburgh Penguins star player Mario Lemieux is approved as new owner of the struggling franchise; Penguins become first club in pro sports history to be owned by a former member of the team
- 2001 Facing 4-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux, Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa hits the longest home run in Turner Field history as his 53rd of the season travels 471 feet to straight away center
2018 Finnish Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen qualifies in 1:19.119 during Q3 of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza; record for fastest average lap speed in F1 (263.588 kph or 163.786 mph)
